feisty people

I really don't even have a background story for this quote. It just kind of happened.

"You should always be afraid of people with long nails. They're always so feisty"-Philip, age 3.

I really can't even explain. I just bursted out laughing and he looked at me like I was laughing at the Holocaust. Shame on me for taking this matter lightly.

do you know something?

In one of my classes, I have the dreamiest little 4-year-old on the face of this earth. His name is Jacopo, he speaks with a very obvious Italian accent, wears the sweetest outfits, and begins most statements with a, "Do you know something?..."

This week's theme at school was dental hygiene so I taught a lesson on brushing your teeth and made them learn the Spanish words for teeth, toothbrush, and toothpaste.

Me: "...and in Spanish toothpaste is pasta."
Jacopo: "Do you know something? Pasta?? That is like pssghetti! In Italy we love to EAT pasta! I am from Pisa, but not the kind you eat. The kind you live in. Did you know that Miss Kathy? You can live in Pisa?"

Do you know something? It sounds like I need to move to Pisa. To live there, not to eat it. And to find myself a stud. Just like Jacopo.

i have a secret

Whenever Rider's class is about to come in, I try mentally and physically prepare myself for this kid's entrance. And even then, I'm usually not prepared enough. He has these explosions of excitement and doesn't quite know how to handle all of his emotions. Instead, he always attacks me with a MASSIVE HUG--I'm talking the kind that knocks the wind out of you--and grabs my face with both his hands so that I am exclusively saying hello to him first. Even with the perpetual threat of him breaking my body, I can't help but love the kid. One time he even told me we were best friends. SwoOoooOoooOOoon.

One day, he entered with his ritual manhandling and yelled to me that he had a secret. I told him he wasn't allowed to interrupt my class today and his secret would have to wait till at least after we sang our hello song. I should clarify that Rider seems to be under the impression that I need everyone to like me (you cut to the core of me, Baxter. Anchorman, anyone?). So throughout the entire hello song and my short review, he kept slapping my legs, repeating that he just HAD to tell me this big secret. After attempting to contain him for a total of 10 MINUTES, I finally caved.

Me: "What is it Rider?"
Rider: "I have to tell you in your ear...it's a seeeeeeeeecret!
(creeps up to my ear)
Rider: "I just gotta tell you...if you let us watch tv, I bet everyone will love you. That's my secret for you because it's important to be popular."

Someone get this kid to the White House. This is diplomacy in the making people.